LOS ANGELES — It’s rare in college football that teams can reach a first milestone and possibly a last one as well in the same game. Yet, that’s the situation Penn State and Utah will find themselves in for the Rose Bowl.
The Nittany Lions and the Utes will meet for the first time in the 109th edition of the “Granddaddy of Them All” on Jan. 2.
“The fact that Penn State has played every Pac-12 school except for Utah, it’s not too often in 2022 that you’re able to do things for the first time ever, so that’s really cool,” Penn State coach James Franklin said.
It also could be the final Rose Bowl to feature the traditional Big Ten versus Pac-12 format. The game will be one of the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 1, 2024, and it will be a quarterfinal for the 2024 season after it agreed to amend its contract in order for the CFP field to expand to 12 teams.
“I think there’s going to be major changes in my opinion, huge changes in college football. It’s going to be pretty much unrecognizable the next five, six years compared to what it is now,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We’re excited to be able to play in the Rose Bowl this year in the traditional fashion and in its traditional time slot and all that type of stuff.”